Town file
James Island, South Carolina
James Island, South Carolina (Charleston County, South Carolina) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 81, "Begging For Death" (15 August 2018). James Island sits on the central coast of South Carolina, in Charleston County, just outside Charleston.
- Town
- James Island
- County
- Charleston County
- State
- South Carolina
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 81
- Approximate location
- 32.736, -79.937
Episode 81 / 15 August 2018 / 147 min / full
Begging For Death
"We're going all the way to James Island, South Carolina; this is in Charleston County, right outside Charleston" about 0:06:27
The case: Torture and murder of Gerard Roper (March 2006); 1996 stabbing by (1996). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2018
- Population
- 11,789
- Median age
- about 48
- Median household income
- $62,301
- Median home value
- $309,900
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $1,560
- Cost of living
- 116
- Religious
- about 58%
- Property crime
- ▼ slightly lower than average
- Violent crime
- ▲ slightly higher than average
History, in brief
- Laid out as James Town, spelt with an e, in December 1671. about 0:12:05
- Populated by colonists from New York who disliked the northern winters and the taxes. about 0:13:39
- A survey of 1685 does not show the town, so it was never an official town, but people kept camping and living there. about 0:14:46
- In 1782 Colonel Teduz Cosacusco led the last known armed action of the Revolutionary War against the British on the island, and the Continental Congress made him a brigadier general. about 0:16:20
- Malaria was the main cause of death for children in South Carolina in the 1800s, so planters moved their families to summer homes by the beach and left their slaves on the plantations. about 0:17:09
- Cotton took over the island in the mid 1800s; the seed came in 1786, and clearing every tree for the fields caused dust storms that forced the plantation houses to be abandoned. about 0:18:32
- Sea Island cotton, grown from Bahamian seed, was worth up to six times more than regular cotton, and James Island was one of the largest producers in the South. about 0:19:46
- Floods and infestations of caterpillars hit the island in 1867 and 1868. about 0:19:56
- A bridge over the water was built in 1899, and the first concrete bridge did not come until 1956. about 0:20:39
- A boll weevil invasion beginning in 1910 destroyed the last of the Sea Island cotton by 1922, and the island stopped being farmland. about 0:23:01
- Incorporated on 8 January 1993 with an elected mayor; Charleston sued over a salt marsh said to separate parts of the town, won, and the town lost its appeal in the Supreme Court in 1997. about 0:24:11
- The legislature changed the law and the town incorporated again; the fight went back and forth until 2008 and four mayors were elected and then removed. about 0:24:58
- The Supreme Court ruled against the town in June 2011 and it re-incorporated in 2012; Charleston gave up in 2014 after twenty one years. about 0:25:11
- Stephen Colbert spent part of his childhood on the island and attended the elementary school near there. about 0:26:02
- Roddy White, the Atlanta Falcons wide receiver, is from the island. about 0:26:14
- James says George Gershwin is buried on the island. about 0:26:21
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Summerville, South Carolina23 miles
- Socastee, South Carolina85 miles
- Coward, South Carolina86 miles
- Conway, South Carolina92 miles
- Nixonville, South Carolina97 miles
- Riceboro, Georgia112 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.